tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9219787601229716990.post4240868583643926224..comments2023-07-23T04:52:32.162-04:00Comments on thetakeaway@jtslibrary: Israel Najara's Piyut Yaarat Dvash יערת דבשJTShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07306043722735274667noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9219787601229716990.post-21080705610426372912011-03-21T13:00:26.482-04:002011-03-21T13:00:26.482-04:00We have referred your question to Dr. Raymond Schi...We have referred your question to Dr. Raymond Schiendlin, professor of Medieval Hebrew Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and he has kindly provided this answer:<br /><br />The earliest appearance of Shalom aleikhem seems to have been in a book published in 1641. It does not seem ever to have been attributed to anyone. Najjara lived ca 1555-ca 1625, so chronologically it is not impossible that he should have been the author; on the other hand, there is nothing particularly distinctive about Shalom aleikhem that would suggest that it is by him, and it does not resemble his poems. Najjara's poems are well known to scholars, and the manuscripts of his poetry have been catalogued. If Shalom aleikhem were among his poems, someone would have noticed it by now; in any case no one has said they found it among his works. <br /><br />It's even hard to consider Shalom aleikhem a poem. In form, it isn't similar to medieval poems or poems by Najjara's contemporaries, since it consists merely of one sentence repeated four times, with only the first two words in each sentence changing each time. It's more like an incantation or a spell. The fact that we are accustomed to singing it shouldn't make us think of it as a poem in the sense that the word might have been used by Najjara.Inahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14738250571506559095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9219787601229716990.post-59649165962188436162011-03-10T21:22:15.212-05:002011-03-10T21:22:15.212-05:00what is the possibility of Israel Najara being the...what is the possibility of Israel Najara being the author of Shalom Aleichem, that most Jews sing before Shabbos Kiddush? Have any ancient copies of it been found that could hint as to it's author?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com